116. Do Androids Dream of Electric War: The Reality of Autonomous Weapons with Dr. Mark Bailey

About this episode

The episode discusses the implications of autonomous weapons in modern warfare with Dr. Mark Bailey.

“I think there’s a moral question that one has to ask in general about whether it’s appropriate for a machine to make a decision as to whether or not a human ought to live or die” [Editor’s Note: As observed in TRADOC Pamphlet 525-92, The Operational Environment 2024-2034: Large-Scale Combat Operations: “The increase in the production, employment, and success of uncrewed systems means the Army can expect to encounter these systems across the breadth and depth of LSCO.” Contemporary conflicts in Ukraine and Middle East have witnessed the burgeoning use of autonomous weapons — empowering lesser states (i.e., Ukraine) and non-state actors (i.e., the Houthi Movement in Yemen) to conduct asymmetric strikes against nations with more robust military capabilities (i.e., Russia and Israel, respectively). These capabilities are transforming warfighting in both the air/land and land/sea littoral, eroding and possibly negating traditional concepts of air and naval superiority. The battlefield successes achieved using these autonomous technologies has led to them being rapidly proliferated around the globe, with Transnational Criminal Organizations (TCO) like the Jalisco New Generation Cartel…

People in this episode

Guest: Dr. Mark Bailey

Topics covered

• autonomous weapons
• military technology
• moral implications of AI
• asymmetric warfare
• uncrewed systems
• combat operations

Keywords

• autonomous weapons
• military ethics
• uncrewed systems
• combat technology
• asymmetric strikes
• UAVs
• warfare transformation

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: TRADOC, Houthi Movement, Jalisco New Generation Cartel

Places: Ukraine, Russia, Israel, Mexico

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